The Lord At Seevaram

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The Lord at Seevaram is continued.

dasan,T.Raguveeradayal

THE LORD AT SEEVARAM

The Ascent

 

As soon as the dense throng round about could be compelled to make a way, the Dandigai began to move up the Hill. And with the ascent there developed on this most picturesque canvas a new picture. The ascent being steep the Dandigai as it was borne up became inclined. The erstwhile erect Lord-so erect indeed that the Hill before him looked bent-now assumed a reclining posture. The Archakas with careful and loving hands held up a soft and downy Divan behind so that the soft Form of the Lord may rest on it as the Hill was being ascended.

 

The world-Artist that He is-God has painted many beautiful and charming pictures in the form of this huge and varied wide universe; but He too could not do justice to this picture if He were to attempt it. It was so glorious and so perfect. The blending of colours and the beautiful and appropriate background would have baffled the painting brush of any artist-even if it be He. Even without the central figure that adorned and beautified the spot now, the place in its natural scenery was immensely striking. The winding expanse of the Palar below, the dark hillocks beyond, the shiningorb of day behind, the thousand eager and beaming faces all around, the lofty ascent up this Hill, --it was in short a picture to be seen or imagined-never to be told or portrayed. The central figure was of course that Rapture-bound Divine Personality that shed beauty all round and infused into the ugliest environment a transcendental beauty. It was nothing new to Him. On the contrary we have heard it said by sages of yore that it was very usual with Him. We have in fact the certificates of such an austere rishi as Janaka, such a heartless rakshasa as Mareecha, such a rigid Jitendria as Hanuman and such as sexless sage as Suka-that He the Manmatha of Manmathas used to shed lustre wherever He went and to adorn and transform into a shining place of beauty the most prosaic towns, forests, hills and riversides. It was our great truth and appropriatenesss contained in the lavish descriptions one comes across in the ancient works of religious art such as the Srimad Ramayanam and the Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

How can I do justice to the thoughts that well up in my mind even now as I go back to that blissful day and recollect the position of the procession just halfway up the Hill? At that spot the whole landscape completely unfurls itself to your view and when your eyes travel from the distant horizon slowly through the expanse of sand bisected by a narrow sheet of water glistening in the sun. through the concourse of people drawn up behind the Dandigai from whose depths are wafted up to you the sweet chanting of the Scriptures, to the cynosure of all eyes, seated or rather reclining in the Dandigai, you are sure to feel transported into some region never before visited by you. But in truth you will not have eyes for all that. The ravishing God of your heart would dance before your eyes here, there and everywhere, with His shining Savaripagai, bewitching Face, respleudent Sankha and Chakra, scintillating myriads of jewels and the sweet little Lotus Feet softly reclining against the cushion-like Diwan behind. If you are an artist you can admire such unparallelled beauty; if you are a philospher you can speculate upon the meaning of such ethereal manifestations; if you are a mystic you can love and feel how well you are loved by that Fountain of Love and Beauty; even if you are an atheist you wil be struck with the manifestation of something above human, - that unspeakable something, which you seee but cannot explain awat, worrying you innermost himd all the shile. It is a dharsan that heals all sores, quells all doubts, solves all problems, stills all disputation, and fills all hearts: a Dharsan that stifles the agnostic, awes the atheist, satisfies the philosopher, and infatuates the mystic.

 

Before our eyes could gather in a fraction of that splendid Light we had reached the summit of the Hill whereon was the Mantapam in which He was to stay that day. After He was safely lodged in the Mantapam we most reluctantly tore ourselves away from His presence and came outside the curtain. There we prostracted deeply grateful for the immense grace with which He had bestowed upon us that day the great boon of being in His company for a while and gazing the vision of His ecstatic Beauty. Then with an anjali lifted towards His permanent Abode-Hasthigiri-which loomed on the the western horizon and after pradakshinams round the Mantapam we decended the Hill, feeling at every step the differene between the elevating and heart-filling ascent a few minutes before and the depressing and disheartening decent now. But the freshness had not faded from the vision which had lodged itself in our hearts and drawing from it both enjoyment and consolation and looking out on the landscape down below we soon reached the foot of the Hill.

 

A short Interval

 

The cool waters of the stream in the mid-Palar invited us to take a second plunge. The sun had by now dispelled not only the darkness of the night but also the extreme chill of the early morning hours and basking in its warmth we bathed in the cool water.

 

To appease the hunger of the stomach for the day was an easy task with so many kind and generous-hearted friends who pressed us to partake to the distribution of food they has lavishly arranged for the benefit and comfort of the thronging pilgrims. And as soon as that was over we ascended the hill once again to refresh the soul by renewed contact with the Beautiful God present there. After more than two hours of separation from His immediate presence the longing to be back again before Him and to get as much as possible out of that blessed day, made the ascent easy in spite of the hot sun glowing above our heads. Already a regular stream of worshippers had begun ascending the hill for His Dharsan and mixing with them we also got up